how fate ended them
by baconmargherita
Summary: Tendou and Ushijima accidentally meet each other on the train, 5 years later since last seeing each other in high school.


The moment Tendou's eyes landed on a particular brunette whose back was turned to him, he didn't have to take a guess who it was. Although it's been years, his heart still knew the person that he considered as his one and only best friend.

How could he ever forget him?

"Wakatoshi?" Tendou's heart seemed to be racing as he reached out to the man's broad shoulders. The man turned his head, not startled at all by Tendou's touch. Upon revealing his face, Tendou's dark red pupils went wide.

Ushijima seemed to have changed a lot. His hair was different, all slicked back and showing up more of his handsome face. He was even wearing glasses now behind his olive eyes; a possibility that had never crossed Tendou's mind, but the way he looks good in them was undeniable.

He looks just like the professional he was born to be.

On the other hand, Tendou thought how nothing drastic must have changed from him. Other than standing at a hundred and ninety five centimeters now, he's kept his hair down ever since they graduated out of high school and maintained a rather messy block cut. Also, he's pierced his ears a lot.

Ushijima blinked twice before responding, which seemed to spark some joy out of the redhead. It's been so long since he's heard that deep, yet fruity voice calling his name that he didn't even realize until now that he's actually missed it.

"Aha! Sure couldn't forget about me, huh? How've ya been?"

They both made small talk about their careers. Shockingly, Tendou learned that Ushijima had took on the path of teaching. The brunette told him about his studies abroad, about how his father took charge of all the fees as he lived with him, and now he's come back to teach English.

It was unusual, indeed. But Tendou could also just picture his best bud's status there; completely having both his students and fellow faculty staff swooning over him as he read and taught all about the English lexicon. But other than those mentioned, there were still the typical Ushijima attributes that remained.

He was still rather stoic and blunt, such as when he made a comment about Tendou running a comic book shop.

"Even with your career, you're still taking your interests along with you?"

Tendou laughed. "As long as it's keeping me stable."

"I wish I could have played volleyball all my life."

Tendou heard Ushijima mutter under his breath. He was glad that the guy was still able to open up to him about things like this and chuckled.

"You really are the biggest volleyball idiot."

As the train sped through the scene of skyscrapers and the orange horizon, Tendou looked up and suddenly remembered all the fun, high school memories of which he had. A small smile forms his lips as he remembers his team, and how they became his family for three whole years.

There were certainly a lot of things that he was able to discover throughout those special years. After all...

It was there that he was able to find acceptance.

It was there that he was able to find love.

"I will be dropping off to the next station."

Tendou's racing heart seemed to have slowed down all of a sudden. As he observed Ushijima who after all these years, was still a tad inch taller than him and whose expression remained solid, the thoughts came quickly pouring in his head.

_He's going to leave soon._

_Aren't you going to do anything about it?_

"Wakatoshi-kun. I know you're probably busy but would you like to hang out sometime? You know, just for old times' sake." Tendou blurted out a little too quickly. He was running out of time.

"What do you have in mind?" Ushijima asked him, seemingly interested.

"Hmm, well there is this really cool superhero movie comin' out this weekend! I was thinking of going alone but if you'd like, you can come and watch with me."

Tendou knew Ushijima liked movies. They used to hung out over at Tendou's house a lot, bringing in DVDs of all kinds that made them stay up at ungodly hours. The duo didn't show any restraint, even on school nights.

"Going to the movies sounds good."

Tendou released a long and wide grin. Ushijima's stop was only a few seconds away, but things have been settled now, and his heart became at ease. All he needed now was his number.

"Awesome! Give me your number then so I can contact—"

"Although I do have a slight problem. I'm currently out of money." The brunette suddenly confessed.

"Oh? That's okay, consider it my treat then. But... What happened to your money?"

"I bought quite an expensive ring. I'll be proposing to my girlfriend soon."

Tendou's heart that had been hammering with happiness abruptly stopped, and his breathing hitched. He suddenly fell silent.

_Girlfriend?_

_Wakatoshi has a girlfriend..?_

_No, he's even going to propose._

He's going to get married.

Now Tendou just felt stupid. And somehow... Hurt. He couldn't explain where the sudden heart ache was coming from, but it latched onto him, heavily. He suddenly wanted to scream, but he couldn't. He couldn't even utter a single word out of his mouth and just stared at the familiar man beside him.

_We have arrived at Yokohama station_; the automated announcement went off the speakers. Ushijima had already pulled out his phone and was just waiting for Tendou to lean in and input the number on his screen. But he never does. Slowly, the doors hiss open and people began bustling in and out of the train.

"Y-You're proposing? Heh, wow, that's... Really surprising! I'm just out of words, but I'm very happy for you! Jeez, sucks to be way out of the news." Cracked Tendou's words at first. He wanted to give his best friend a hard pat on the shoulder but his hands weren't cooperating. He tried to move them, but they would remain stiff to his side. Tendou wasn't even sure if he was actually controlling it, or it was just all in his head. It just felt like if he reached out to his old pal a second time, something inside of him would suddenly break.

"Thank you, but I'm getting off now. Tendou, give me your number."

Ushijima had stepped out of the train but stood outside the platform, awaiting the redhead's response. It was only a matter of time before the doors close once again.

"Hmm, we should just reschedule. I forgot that this week's actually pretty busy for me. Gotta pick up and sort some newly issued comics back at my shop." Tendou chuckled and crinkled his face as he scratched the back of his head. For some reason, Ushijima felt like Tendou's words weren't actually sincere and he frowned.

"Sir, please back away from the line. The train is about to go." A man in a police uniform that had been roaming the station suddenly appeared beside Ushijima and tried to pull back the brunette by his shoulders.

"Just give me your number." Ushijima repeated sternly, paying no heed to the dressed authority that was trying to drag him away.

"Sir, please. you're stepping on the line. We're gonna have to penalize you for breaking the rules and resisting."

"Wakatoshi-kun, you better step back. That penalty fee's no joke. You're practically broke right now, remember?" Tendou chortled as a small, red light started blinking atop the doors that were now in a closing motion.

"I don't care. Tendou, just give me your god damn number."

Tendou was quite taken aback at hearing Ushijima's slight cussing. But instead of giving the impatient man his request, he smiles and mutters out a rather weak apology.

"I'm sorry, Wakatoshi-kun."

"What?"

"Let's just hang out again some other time, 'kay? We'll see each other again."

"Tendou—"

The doors shut in on Tendou's smiling face. Ushijima couldn't do anything anymore but to watch helplessly from the outside as the train bustled past him. He could have banged on the doors, but the police were holding his arms behind his back. And besides that action that certainly wouldn't have any gain whatsoever, he also didn't want to cause anymore trouble, which he had just realized.

Now, Tendou was gone and Ushijima couldn't stop feeling unsettled all the way home. Because somehow towards the end, he was certain that Tendou had felt and acted a bit differently. Though he probably tried to cover it up by being his usual, energetic self, Ushijima still saw it in his dark, red eyes—his sadness.

But he's never going to have the chance to ask him about it, nor be able to offer the only man that understood him best his silent comfort like he used to, as they were allowed to cross each other's paths again only once.

It was just how fate played and ended them to be.


End file.
